Fantasy NPC: Slurrakh The Polisher

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Slurrakh The Polisher

A mound of grayish goo with multiple pseudopods extending. In its upper part a vague impression of a face forms, and a number of skulls floats within its gelatinous depths.

CR 9; 6,400 XP
LN Large Ooze
Init +0; Senses blindsight 60 ft., scent; Perception +12

Defense
AC 23, touch 9, flat-footed 23 (+14 natural, –1 size)
hp 114 (12d8+60); fast healing 5
Fort +13, Ref +8, Will +13
Defensive Abilities oozing; DR 10/—; Immune acid, disease, ooze traits

Offense
Speed 20 ft., swim 20 ft.
Melee 3 slams +14 (2d6+5 plus grab)
Ranged thrown slime +8/+8/+8 touch (2d6 acid and entangle)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks quick grab, swallow

Statistics
Str 20, Dex 10, Con 20, Int 21, Wis 21, Cha 11
Base Atk +9; CMB +15 (+19 grapple); CMD 25 (can't be tripped)
Feats Craft Wondrous Item, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Master Craftsman (Craft [bone-working]), Weapon Focus (slam)
Skills Craft (bone-working) +22, Diplomacy +17, Linguistics +17, Perception +17, Profession (bone connoisseur) +20, Sense Motive +17, Stealth +8, Swim +13
Language Abyssal, Aklo, Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elven, Giant, Ignan, Infernal, Sylvan, Terran, Undercommon
SQ acidic excretions

Gear token of resistance +2 (as cloak of resistance but doesn't occupy an item slot, floating inside Slurrakh)

Acidic Excretions (Ex) Slurrakh can use its very own excretions to clean, polish, and shape bones and other materials, allowing him to use its Craft skill and Craft Wondrous Item feat without need for additional tools. Slurrakh also treats all Craft and Profession skills as class skills.

Oozing (Ex) Slurrakh oozing mass is not hindered by difficult terrain and it can even move around smaller obstacles. Slurrakh can also easily pass through almost any opening, though it takes a while to move such mass through openings of less than three feet across.

Quick Grab (Ex) Slurrakh can make a grapple check as a swift action against an already grappled creature.

Swallow (Ex) When Slurrakh pins a creature with a successful grapple check, it can choose to engulf the creature within own gelatinous body, freeing its appendages. At the beginning of its turn, Slurrakh can chose to deal 4d6 points of acid damage to the swallowed creature, heal it for 4d6 points of damage, hold the creature without harming it, or expel the victim from its body, pushing it 1d3 × 5 feet away in the direction of Slurrakh choice. Swallowed creature can try to escape the pin as normal, though Slurrakh's CMD is increased by 10 in such situation. Because of the composition of Slurrakh's gelatinous flesh, the swallowed creature doesn't suffocate, but it can't speak. Slurrakh can keep single Medium or four Small creatures swallowed at the same time.

Thrown Slime (Ex) Slurrakh can make ranged attacks by slinging bits of its own acidic excretions, making thrown attack rolls with range increment of 20 feet, and dealing 2d6 points of acid damage on hit. Creatures struck by the slime become entangled for 1d4 rounds unless they make a successful reflex saving throw (DC 18). The saving throw DC is Dexterity-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.

Slurrakh The Polisher is a fully sapient ooze, in fact more intelligent than an average humanoid, thank you very much. It is a polite being, mostly interested in collecting various skulls and other bones, the more exotic the better, though Slurrakh's definition of what constitutes an exotic bone might differ from an average adventurer. In fact, "the Polisher" in Slurrakh's name refers to its exceptional skill in handling bones and crafting them into various trinkets, often used as payment for even more interesting bones.

Fantasy NPC: Yashko The Harvester

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Yashko The Harvester

A once handsome, statuesque, shirt-less young man, now pale and translucent, with bones sticking from underneath the flaking skin. He floats just a few inches above the ground.

CR 7; 3,200 XP
LE Medium Undead
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +5

Defense
AC 20, touch 16, flat-footed 16 (+2 deflection, +4 Dex, +4 natural)
hp 90 (12d8+36); fast healing 10
Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +9
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, rejuvenation, semi-tangible; DR 10/magic; Immune undead traits

Offense
Speed fly 30 ft. (perfect)
Melee scythe +13/+13/+8 (2d4+5, 19–20/×4) or slam +12 (1d6+3)
Ranged thrown scythe +14 (2d4+5, 19–20/×4)
Special Attacks accursed scythe

Statistics
Str 16, Dex 18, Con —, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 15
Base Atk +9; CMB +12; CMD 28
Feats Critical Focus, Flyby Attack, Improved Critical (scythe), Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (Profession [farmer]), Weapon Focus (scythe)
Skills Fly +16, Perception +5, Profession (farmer) +19, Stealth +17
Language Common, Duc

Accursed Scythe (Su) The scythe wielded by Yashko is imbued by his unlife with extraordinary powers. In his hands it works as a +1 throwing speed plant-bane weapon, that reforms in his hands at the beginning of his turn, even when destroyed.

Rejuvenation (Su) Yashko was told to harvest so he will keep doing it. When he is killed, he will reform on the following dawn, unless killed on a patch of barren or cleared land, with no grass or grain growing within a 100 feet, and even then he will reform in the future, if grass or grain will grow within 100 feet of his resting spot. If there is a way of putting him to rest permanently, it would require research or particularly potent magic.

Semi-Tangible (Su) Despite his ghostly appearance, Yashko is mostly corporeal, though he can ignore hindrances caused by any vegetation smaller than trees, and gets a deflection bonus like an incorporeal creature. Any effects that would cause an incorporeal undead to fully materialize will suppress his damage resistance, deflection bonus, and will replace flying speed with land speed.


Yashko was a simple farmhand—not particularly bright lad, but stubborn as an ox, and having great pride in having no match among his fellows when it came to mowing grass and reaping crops, a true master of scythe-work. He was merrily working in the field, in the middle of the Autumn harvest, when a renegade lord pillaged his village, looting, killing, and burning. Suffering a mortal wound, disoriented Yashko got up and returned to his work, killing retainers of the villain standing in his path one by one, until the handful few run away from the farmhand that would not die.

Yashko continues his work, roaming the fields near his village, though it seems that, as the years pass, he gets farther and farther from his home. While he can be communicated with, he is a stubborn laborer with little education obsessing on his task beyond the boundaries of reason—and with little regard for those who would stand if the way of his scythe, willingly or accidentally.

Playbook: Professor

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Today, I am doing something a bit different, namely a new playbook to be used with Forged In The Dark, taking advantage of One Seven Design's gracious licensing rules. This playbook owes its name to a nickname I got a few years ago while working a menial job with some minor criminals, and ne'er do wells, courtesy of my glasses and having somewhat better education than them (though it was not a particularly high threshold to pass). At least once I was asked to read an official letter to a co-worker and explain its content to him in simple words.

Playbook: Professor

An intellectually-inclined smart-ass.

Not all criminals are uneducated scum. In fact, a lot of academical students end on the wrong side of law—for common reasons such as parties going out of control, illicit vices, debts, boredom—or less common ones such as inquires into restricted topics. Occasionally even established academicians fall through the cracks—for the same reasons as students or for academical intrigues they were victims of, or perpetrators.

When you play a Professor, you earn xp when you address a challenge with research or instructing others. Sifting through hoarded lore, years of education, books, and accounts, finds you both immediately useful information, and, even more often, pieces of trivia stored for later.

Are you a fallen academician or a self-taught street kid? Were you a student or a teacher? Do you have a particularly favored topic or field of study? Have you chosen the path of crime of your own volition or were you pushed that way?

Starting Actions Study 2, Sway 1

Starting Builds—a few sample templates for starting characters

• Dabbler Attune +2, Prowl +1, Survey +1. Following Instructions.
• Pretender Consort +2, Sway +1, Tinker +1. Wiseguy Lingo.
• Seeker Hunt +1, Prowl +1, Survey +2. Savvy.
• Troublemaker Command +1, Finesse +1, Wreck +2. Party Hard.

Learned Friends, Rivals

• Arlington, PhD. Perhaps your former teacher or a past student? A contact at the university or the one who you blame for the end of your promising career?
• Brushwood, the bursar. Perhaps an accompliance of the embezzlement you committed, who still owes you for not giving him out? Perhaps the one who caught you cooking the books?
• Clarmont, the doorman. Perhaps he remembers your antics during your school years fondly? Perhaps he remembers your antics during your school year bitterly?
• Framworth, the rector's daughter. Perhaps your old friend? Perhaps your old scorned lover?
• Verity, the librarian. Perhaps she is your access to the books you need for your research? Perhaps she is still out to get you for the rare books missing from her library?

Professor Special Abilities

• Another All-Nighter: When you gather information, you can spend your special armor to push yourself when doing so or to resist one of its consequences. When you resist a consequence, you avoid it completely. When you push yourself, you gain its benefits without paying stress. Your special armor is restored at the beginning of downtime.
• Following Instructions: You gain +1d when you perform an action or activity for which you have professionally written instructions, such as a technical manual, a map, or a set of schematics. You suffer –1d when they are erroneous or obsolete, though. You don't know if the instructions are accurate or not until you actually test them.
• Introvert: You really enjoy yourself during long intellectual pursuits. When you work on research, science, or invention-related long-term project, or train during the downtime, you can also remove one stress. How more boring could you get?
• Lecture: You don't pay stress when you assist a teammate if your action rating is higher than theirs. If you are better at it, why aren't you doing it yourself, though?
• Party Hard: No one can party with greater abandon than students after their finals. Or before finals. Or in the middle of the semester. Take +1d to indulging vice rolls. An ally why joins you in your vice can also benefit from that effect. Overindulging in a vice is a feature, not a bug.
• Quiet Time: You can put your education to good use, making yourself handy to guards or other prisoners to have around, getting better treatment and maybe even a bit of time for yourself. You can either take one downtime activity while incarcerated, as long as you can explain how you accomplish it in prison or get +1d to incarceration roll.
• Savvy: You are apt at piercing deceptions and connecting the dots you weren't looking for. Take +1d to resistance rolls with Insight.
• Wiseguy Lingo: You can talk like an academic, gaining +1d on rolls made to influence people who respect learning and to fit in among the highly educated.

Professor Items

• A sturdy cane. Possibly with a blade hidden inside. [Load 1]
• Fine clothing. An apparel fitting an academician. [Load 0] Counts as Load 2 if you carry it as a second outfit to change into.
• Old library card or academical credentials. Might belong to you, or to someone else. Still useful to gain access to some places, impress some folks, or be left as a calling card or red herring. [Load 0]
• A book regarding a specific academic topic. Quite Handy for consultation in the field. Is it yours or have you borrowed it? Does the owner knows? [Load 1]
• Notebook. Helpful with taking notes and making plans. [Load 1]

And now a Study-based Reduce Heat downtime activity... Er... Legalese:

This work is based on Blades in the Dark (found at http://www.bladesinthedark.com/), product of One Seven Design, developed and authored by John Harper, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Fantasy Monster: Wightlin Gremlin

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Gremlin, Wightlin

A tattered, half-skeletal mockery covered with remnants of melted flesh, its parts floating independently of the rest.

CR 3; XP 800
CE Tiny Undead
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +10

Defense
AC 16, touch 16, flat-footed 12 (+4 Dex, +2 size)
hp 27 (6d8)
Fort +2; Ref +6; Will +6
Defensive Abilities channeling resistance +2, evasion; Immune undead

Offense
Speed fly 30 ft. (good)
Melee 2 claws +6 (2d4), bite +6 (1d3)
Ranged improvised projectile +10 (1d3)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft. (15 ft. with claws)
Special Attacks frantic lashing

Statistics
Str 10, Dex 18, Con —, Int 11, Wis 13, Cha 11
Base Atk +4; CMB +6 (+10 frantic lashing); CMD 16
Feats Combat Reflexes, Flyby Attack, Throw Anything
Skills Fly +21, Perception +10, Sleight Of Hand +10, Stealth +21
Language understands Undercommon

Ecology
Environment urban, underground
Organization solitary, pair, trio
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Frantic Lashing (Ex) When a wightlin hits with an attack of opportunity, it can attempt one of dirty trick, disarm, steal, sunder, or trip combat maneuvers as a free action with a +4 bonus.


Wightlins are gremlins that were killed during their antics but were drawn back from beyond the death by their undiluted malice. The death only succeeded in making them even more cruel and vicious. Their presence tends to scare off other gremlins, though, but that is rarely seen as change for better.

Fantasy Monster: Biersal Gremlin

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Gremlin, Biersal

A little ugly hairy figure with wide ear, long nose, and even longer tongue. It keeps a crooked pipe in its teeth.

CR 1/2; XP 200
CN Tiny Fey
Init +1; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +6

Defense
AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 12 (+1 Dex, +2 size)
hp 10 (3d6)
Fort +1; Ref +4; Will +3
Defensive Abilities dodge drunks, evasion

Offense
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft., swim 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +4 (1d3–2) and bite +4 (1d3–2)
Ranged thrown mug +4 (1d3–2 plus dazzle)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd, concentration +4)
At Will—mending, potent liquor, prestidigitation

Statistics
Str 6, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 11, Wis 11, Cha 13
Base Atk +1; CMB +0; CMD 8
Feats Skill Focus (Profession [brewer]), Weapon Finesse
Skills Climb +6, Escape Artist +7, Knowledge (local) +6, Perception +6, Profession (brewer) +9, Sleight Of Hand +7, Stealth +15, Swim +6
Language Common, Undercommon, Sylvan
SQ brewer

Ecology
Environment urban (breweries, alehouses, inns)
Organization solitary, 
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Brewer (Ex) A biersal treats Profession (brewer) as a class skill.

Dodge Drunks (Ex) All the attacks of opportunity made by drunk creatures against a biersal have 50% miss chance. The biersal can attempt a dirty trick, disarm, reposition, or trip combat maneuver with a +4 bonus as a free action against a creature that missed an attack of opportunity aginst it.

Throw Mug (Ex) A biersal is expert at throwing mugs and cups efficiently, treating them as thrown weapons with 20 ft. range increment. If the thrown container is filled with a liquid, the creature hit is dazzled for 1d4 rounds.


Biersals are little, capricious fey that infest breweries, alehouses, inns, and other places that produce and keep ales and beers. Usually, they can be placated by offerings of drink and food, making them somewhat productive, cleaning the vessels, mugs, and bottles at night, and occasionally overseeing brewing, though they are unreliable at best, as they are easily bored and eager to sample the wares when no one is looking.


New Spell: Potent Liquor
School Transmutation [water]; Level bard 0, cleric 0, druid 0, sorcerer/wizard 0, witch 0
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V or S
Range close
Target one alcoholic drink or one non-alcoholic drink
Duration 1 minute
Saving Throw Will negates (object); Spell Resistance yes (object)
You can double or negate potency of a single alcoholic drink, making it count as one, two , or zero doses of alcohol. When cast on a non-alcoholic drink, it makes it smell and taste like an alcoholic drink of your choice. You might make such non-alcoholic to affect you (and only you) as a single dose of alcohol.

Fantasy NPC: Darrokh The Finder

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Darrokh The Finder

A ripped, tattooed man with a strongly outlined jaw, wearing a lamellar leather armor adorned with some cords and bones. His nose was clearly broken, many times.

CR 2; 600 XP
Male half-orc brawler 3
N Medium Humanoid (human, orc)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7

Defense
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +2 Dex)
hp 27 (3d10+6)
Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +4

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +6 (1d6+3) or unarmed strike +4/+4 (1d6+3)
Ranged thrown knife +4 (1d4+3/19—20/×2)
Special Attacks brawler's flurry, maneuver training 1 (grapple), martial flexibility (4/day)

Statistics
Str 17, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 10
Base Atk +3; CMB +6 (+9 grapple); CMD 18 (20 vs. grapple)
Feats Danger Sense, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Psychic Finding
Skills Intimidate +8, Knowledge (local) +8, Perception +7, Sense Motive +7
Language Common, Orc
SQ city-raised, sacred tattoo

Notable Gear  a stash of potions of cure light wounds and potions of magic fang


Darrokh The Finder is a half-orc with a peculiar talent that helps him find lost objects and lost people. Or objects that were stolen, people that don't want to be found. He earns his living doing so, even if it means facing angry folks and disgruntled clients.

Feat: Danger Sense
You just know when the things are going south.
Benefit: You can take a move action as an immediate action when the initiative is rolled. You aren't flat-footed because you haven't acted in combat yet, though you may suffer flat-footed condition from other sources.

Feat: Psychic Finding
People and things leave traces that you can sense, though you are not sure how.
Benefit: You can concentrate on a specific description for a minute to sense if a creature or an that matches it was within 30 feet of the place where you focus in the last 24 hours. Only qualities that you could actually perceive count for such description, and the more detailed description the lesser chance of false positives. If the sought target or the place checked is protected from divination effects, the feat returns negative reading. You can use the highest of your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifiers to maintain concentration when distracted, or you can use a concentration total granted by another class or ability.

Fantasy Monster: Garden Hag

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Hag, Garden

This ugly little lady has sickle-like claws and wears.

CR 4; XP 1,200
NE Small Monstrous Humanoid
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., scent; Perception +11

Defense
AC 17, touch 15, flat-footed 13 (+4 Dex, +2 natural, +1 size)
hp 39 (6d10+6)
Fort +3; Ref +9; Will +7

Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +7 (1d6) and bite +7 (1d4)
Special Attacks lashing vines
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th, concentration +7)
At Will—detect animals or plants (plants only), diminish plants, goodberry

Statistics
Str 10, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 15
Base Atk +6; CMB +5; CMD 19
Feats Diehard, Endurance, Improved Initiative
Skills Craft (alchemy) +8, Heal +8, Knowledge (nature) +8, Perception +11, Profession (herbalist) +8, Stealth +17
SQ change shape (alter self; Small halfling, gnome, or little person), garden

Ecology
Environment forest, hills
Organization solitary, coven (3)
Treasure standard (magic fruits acting like potions and valuable plants)

Special Abilities

Garden (Su) A garden hag has a link to a patch of land not exceeding area of 100 10-ft. squares that she takes care of and cultivates, fertilizing it with blood, flesh, and bones, of animals and humanoids whenever she can. A garden hag requires at least a month of gardening to create a new garden if she is forced to leave her old one, or when it is destroyed. Multiple garden hags can merge their gardens together, expanding their area, though they often quarrel about their shared garden's development. While within confines of her garden, a garden hag can move through the vegetation without hindrance, and it cannot be magically used against her. She can take a standard action to step into any plant large enough to contain her (even superficially like a Small bush) and emerge from another plant of that size or larger within the boundaries of the garden. A garden hag can take a standard action to learn single piece of information regarding her garden that could be revealed by commune with nature spell. Additionally, each garden hag can grow magical fruits that act like potions within her garden as if she was using Brew Potion feat, though instead of providing spells herself, she has to use remains of a spellcaster with access to desired spell or a creature with desired spell-like ability as a fertilizer for the fruit-bearing plant.

Lashing Vines (Su) A garden hag can cause plants within 60 feet to animate lashing at her enemies. She can use this ability to strike at one to four enemies, dealing 4d6 points of damage against single target, 2d6 points of damage each against two targets, or 1d6 points of damage against each of three or four targets, and entangling the victim for 1d4+1 rounds. A successful Reflex saving throw (DC 15) prevents the damage and entanglement. The saving throw DC is Charisma-based.


Garden hags are little hags with a strong affinity for plants and nature. They show surprising affection for their gardens, though they are cruel and malicious toward everyone and everything else, considering living things to be fertilizer to be used for their beautiful gardens. They occasionally enslave weakest fey and other creatures smaller than themselves, keeping them as tenders and helpers as long as they remain helpful and obedient. Those that outlive their usefulness end in the compost heaps.

A coven of garden hags can grow twisted leshys and other plant creatures in their gardens.

Orchard Hags (CR 7) are more powerful, Large variety of garden hags with AC 21, 10 HD, 85 hp, Fort +6, Ref +11, Will +11, Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16. Atk 2 claws +13 (2d6+4), bite +13 (1d8+4). Their lashing vines deal double damage and have saving throw DC of 17. They lack change shape ability but can take form of trees as if using tree shape spell as a supernatural ability. They can make their favored trees and bushes grow branches that will act as wands as if using Craft Wand item creation feat, again providing requisite spells by fertilizing them with remains of creatures capable of casting them. Their orchard-gardens have area of 100 100-ft squares and are primarily composed of trees and bushes. They are very tall and thin, with bark-like skin and green hair that resemble willow branches.